Been a while...

I cannot believe that I have gone this long without updating my blog! What can I say other than “How Time Flys”!!!! I’m trying to remember all of the fun things that I have done and I just cant remember that far back… but I’m gonna give it a try.

The end of September I was feeling a little overwhelmed with work and the stress of everyday life and felt like I just needed to get away. Spur of the moment I decided what would be more fun than taking a trip back to New York. I threw the idea around for about a week and finally I had a taker. A friend from work decided she needed to get away as well, so what did we do… booked a trip for the very next week. It was amazing. I forgot just how much I loved the “Big City”. Our intentions were to just go stay a couple days and shop like crazy the entire time. But we ended up just being tourist the entire time! We went everywhere the double Decker bus would take us (pretty much everywhere) including Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, Financial District, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Empire State Building, 5th Ave and even caught a show “Chicago”. It was a well-needed trip and one of the best times ever.

In September I also took on a new “project”… I agreed to choreograph a dance a for the Shakespeare team at our school. Not just a dance but a dance that they were going to be competing at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. I have to admit at first I was not 100% convinced that I could do it but after a lot of choreographing and re-choreographing the dance ended up coming together. The team did amazing and ended up taking a 3rd place against some pretty amazing schools, but not only that they took home the 3rd place sweepstakes award! This is a HUGE accomplishment seeing that we had more than half of our students had never had any dance training beating out performing art schools!

While we were in Cedar City my drill team girls, and I have to admit myself as well, were really not feeling the whole drama/Shakespeare thing…just not our scene or people! (Don’t get me wrong we tried out a workshop, saw a couple LONG plays, but after a while all the overly excited kids started to get on our nerves) The girls were starting to fight and getting really ornery and I was feeling sick and needed to get out of the hotel so I made an executive decision as a coach and surprised my girls with bowling. This had to of been the best part of the entire trip! The girls were awesome bowlers, and despite a couple of face plant spills on the lane and a few balls flying backwards we all had a GREAT time. I love not only teaching these girls everyday, but being able to just hang out! That weekend was a tough one on me and the girls were so supportive and encouraging the entire time. I am a lucky coach!

Fun Times!!!!

It’s been a really long time since I’ve updated my blog, so here is just a little bit of what has been going on. ..

Stadium of Fire

This year my studio, Ultimate Dance Etc., was picked to perform at the Stadium of Fire. The girls put in a lot of time this summer to learn the dances and had three days of grueling practices; I’m talking 35 hours in the HOT sun during those three days!!!
And although they were extremely tired and exhausted they made me one awfully proud coach because they handled it so well and looked so good on the field. I really wish that everyone could have seen them perform. It was truly an amazing show and an opportunity that I’m sure they will never forget.

After they were done performing the girls got to sit on the lawn (probably about 30 yards away from the stage) and watch the Jonas Brothers perform. They were SO excited. I can’t say that I was head over hills about them but it was fun to pretend. The fun part for me was sneaking Addie (Zach’s best friend’s niece) onto the field with me.
She was awesome… she told me who was who with the Jonas Brothers and must have thought I wasn’t listening because she gave me a quiz after explaining it to me. She thinks Joe is the hottest so here we are making kissy faces for him.

Thanks Kresha for letting me steal here from you for a while!

After the concert and as a finale to the show the old HUGE flag (the one that they usually bring out on the field for the national anthem, ya the one that takes up the whole field) was retired. We were able to watch the burning of the flag. That is one thing that I have never seen and it was one experience that was so neat to see! The flag was brought out by service men and women and put into a caldron to be burned. It was so patriotic and a perfect ending to an amazing day…Well besides the fireworks!

Thanks Misty for letting me be a part of this, sorry you didn’t get to perform your dance…maybe next year! hahaha

Grandma is 93!!!

Yesterday we had a birthday party for my Grandma Parker who will be turning 93 on Tuesday! All of my sisters and quite a few of the grandkids went up to Ogden to have cake and ice cream. If you know me you probably already know I get bad anxiety around all of my family, not really sure why seeing that I grew up the youngest of 9 kids and they are great people, but despite all that it was a great day with little anxiety! I actually really enjoyed myself. Grandma looked so pretty and seemed to be really enjoying herself. She even tried to blow out the candles, but the grandkids had to help. Here are some pictures of the celebrations. Happy Birthday Grandma!!!!

Rockette Review

I can't believe it has already been a year since I started coaching Drill Team, but it has. Many, many early mornings later, with countless hours of practice, numerous competitons and a ton of awards later we are ending this amazing year. Tomorrow, Wednesday the 20th (aka my birthday :) ) at 7:00pm we will be having our end of the year review. I would like to formally invite you all to come and share this evening with me. The review will be held at Rockwell Charter High School in Eagle Mountain. It won't cost ou anything to get in so just come on out for a night of fun. Hope to see you there!

A visit from the Queen's Royal British Guard...

On Tuesday Britain’s Queen Royal Guard visited the school I work at and showed our students how the changing of the guards is done. They soldiers, of Britain’s Grenadier Guards Army Infantry Regiment, were visiting Utah this week as they are doing training before being deployed to Afghanistan. Because we are so close to Camp Williams and Eagle Mountain is always doing some kind of Tribute to the Troops, our school was chosen for their demonstration. I have to be honest, I thought the idea was cool but wasn’t going to attend the demonstration as I had other big projects to be working on. It wasn’t until the secretary told me to go out and get some fresh air that I was even semi interested in watching. Boy was I glad that I did. The changing of the guards is an AMAZING show (if that’s even proper to call it) and I literally stood there the entire time with my jaw dropped and in complete awe!!!! Every step was in precise unison; they marched from a quick step to a steady slow step then turned and stopped on command. Every march was a stomping type motion; they have spikes in the bottom of their shoes that they are supposed to dig into the ground as the do every march. It was so amazing how they could stay on pace because the beats kept changing and never once was one of them off!!! Because the ceremonial informs are so big and elaborate, only three of the soldiers wore their traditional red and black Buckingham Palace attire with the big Bearskin cap. The rest of the guard wore their camouflage fatigues, so I can only imagine how amazing the real deal is! After the ceremonial demonstration was over the guard members played some tag football with the students and took pictures.


These are some pictures of the staff at Rockwell with the guard members.

I have to say that I feel very lucky to have been able to watch and interact with the Queens Royal Guard Members. I consider it a once in a lifetime opportunity. Teaching at a High School really is probably the most enjoyable and rewarding job ever! I’ve experienced so many life experiences in such a short time, who would of thought!!!!

Relay for Life

Hi all,

I’m writing this post to hopefully rally some troops! As many of
you know, I’m involved in an amazing charity called “Relay for
Life” in West Jordan. Relay For Life is the American Cancer
Society’s signature activity. It offers everyone an opportunity to
participate in the fight against cancer. Teams of people from all
walks of life will camp out at West Jordan Park on June 26th -27th.
We have fun while raising much-needed funds to fight cancer and raise
awareness of cancer prevention and treatment.

Our goals are to:

• Celebrate the lives of those who have battled cancer. The strength
of survivors inspires others to continue to fight.
• Remember loved ones lost to the disease. At Relay, people who have
walked alongside people battling cancer can grieve and find healing.
• Fight Back. We Relay because we have been touched by cancer and
desperately want to put an end to the disease.

I’d like to share with you the reason I Relay:

I relay because: In my lifetime, I’d like to see the day we find a
cure for cancer!

I have seen too many close family and friends taken by cancer.
October of 2007, I lost one of my very close friends, Amy Greetham, to
Ewings Sarcoma. It was day none of us ever want to see. We tend to get in a habit of thinking something like this will never happen to anyone close to us, but it does. Amy was such a fighter, although she was diagnosed with this terrible disease she never let herself get down. She lived everyday to the fullest and kept the most positive outlook on life. She was a very inspirational girl and did a lot for this
charity, even when she was so sick. Since then, I have wanted to
carry on her legacy and try to help reach her goal of putting an end
to this awful disease. I miss Amy everyday of my life and feel so
much sadness every time I hear that a good friend or family member has
lost someone to cancer. It is the hardest thing to watch someone so
close to you, suffer so much.

I have also seen the benefits of cancer research and know with more time and effort from us all we will see a day that a cure is found. I have a sister who has spent a lifetime battling cancer. She has overcome the fight not once but twice all by the young age of 37. Like Amy, she is such a fighter and has so much love and excitement for life. We hope the fight is over, but know the chance is always there. With that said, I’m asking for your help to join our charity in hopes
that no one else we love, loses someone special to them, due to
cancer. You can be involved as little as or as much as you’d like.
Some ways to help are below:

Start a Team: Team Captains and Team Members are the "foot-soldiers"
in the fight against cancer. Team Captains lead their team by
representing them at monthly update meetings and are the liaisons
between the Event Committee and your team. Team Captains organize the
team's participation in activities before and throughout the night of
the event. The teams also set up activities and booths to sell goods
to the public to raise funds.


Recruit Survivors: If you know of a survivor that you think should be
honored, please give me their contact info. as we would love to honor
them.

Corporate Sponsorship: Have some pull in your company or think the
company you work for would be interested in donating for a tax write
off? We advertise very heavily to the huge crowd we draw and allow
companies to set up a booth to sell goods at the relay if they’d
like.

Youth Involvement: Start a team of children to camp out for the night
and be a part of this fun event. Involve their schools to help raise
money. Ask me how….

Purchase/Sell Luminarias: During the event, we honor our loved ones
with the luminaria ceremony. The luminaria bags are $5 and are
usually decorated to honor someone who has either beat, is beating or
has passed away from cancer. If you’d like some, let me know and I’ll
either deliver them or mail them to you.

Donate Yard Sale Items: We are having a yard sale the morning of May
16th in the southwest parking lot of 7800 S. and Redwood Rd. If you
have anything you’d like to donate, let me know and we’ll arrange to
have it picked up. (No clothes please.) All proceeds go to the
charity.

Become a Committee Member/Volunteer: We have a couple positions still
available if you’d like to be involved individually. A committee
member has a specific role, where as a volunteer helps the day of. If
you are interested, let me know and I’ll get you added to our google
group!

Pass Along! Send this to anyone you think would be
interested.

Thanks for your support! For more information about the Relay, visit
www.relayforlife.org/westjordanut

Fun!

Wow… I don’t know how time keeps flying by SO fast but I seriously need some time to breathe. I have had the best of intentions to update my blog sooner than this but as you can see it just has not happened. So here is a run down of what has happened.
The 2nd week of April was my spring break. It was a week off from work, but a whole week planned of fun and excitement. There was no time to relax this year it was just play, play, play!!!

Sunday started out with Wicked. Bambie bought us all tickets for Christmas. I was so excited to go and couldn’t wait to see the show. We had such AMAZING tickets; we were right in the middle of the theater and were on row M. The show was SO GOOD!!! I think that it is by far my most favorite play of all not to mention the best I’ve ever seen. Thank you so much for the tickets Bambie!!! (Sorry I don’t have pics)

Monday I flew into Long Beach Airport (what a dump) and met up with my family in Disneyland. My mom was even in town, so it was good to spend some time with her. Monday night we took Trev and Kaylee over to the park so that they could ride on some rides. Trevin practically lives at Disneyland (not really but they have been 3 times in less than a year) and Kaylee had never been. It was so much fun watching the two together. Both of them were so excited and loved every minute of it. Surprisingly the two were really well behaved too. There was minimum fighting or pouting.

Tuesday the dance studio girls performed in Disneyland. It was so much fun and such a neat experience watching them have that opportunity. They did so well and had so much fun.

The rest of the day I hung out with the Beck’s and the Seegmillers. They are practically my second family and they are so much fun to be around. I experienced my first Tower of Terror ride and I must say it was horrifying!!! The picture looks like I’m laughing but I was screaming my head off.

I spent all day Wednesday and Thursday with my family and the nieces and nephews. And despite some drama had a lot of fun with them!

Just on a side note one thing that I did find funny is that despite Disneyland being known as “The Happiest Place on Earth” there are a hell of a lot of ornery people. Seriously, we were standing in line for Pirates and some lady behind me literally wanted to fight me because she thought we butted her!!!! Wow… long story short no brawl took place but it made me realize that people just need to chill! Thanks Misty for planning such a fun trip.

This last weekend I went to my nephew Trevin’s first T-ball game. The first thing Trevin did when he saw us was stick his butt out and say “I’m 2” he was trying to show us the number on the back of his jersey. All I can say is that this wasn’t the only funny or entertaining part of the game but the whole thing was a bit humorous. Whenever someone on the other team hit the ball everyone but Trevin would run and doggy pile on it. Trevin would start running for it acting like he was going for the ball and then stop before he was tackled. He is just not into that getting dirty stuff.
Trev is so excited to be playing t-ball and even cried when the game was over. He did such an awesome job and I’m so glad I was able to make it to at least one of his games. Way to go Rev!!!!

And besides all the boring work stuff I’ve been doing I think that about does it!

Dance, Dance, Dance!!!

This last week has definitely been a fun and exhausting weekend as far as dance goes. It all started on Thursday night when Misty and I headed down to the Badgerette Review in Ephraim. Our coach Kathleen Pili, who has been the drill coach for 24 years, sent all the past Badgerettes a ticket to come and watch her last review. It was so much fun seeing past team members, Kathleen and her family.
The highlight of the entire review was when Kathleen & the Dynamos (Merilee and Margie) did a dance number. Snow College was by far the funnest experience that I have had in my dance and college time. Had it not been for my big sis Misty and one of my best friends Rachelle I probably would have never had the chance to experience Snow. You see I always wanted to be just like Misty so when she and Rachelle's older sister Marcie danced at Snow College together Rachelle and I decided to make a pact to be just like them. From 7th grade on we knew that we were going to go to Snow College and be on the Badgerettes just like our older sisters!!!
Misty went with us to our first try-out and cheered us on. (I can still remember that day so clear,even the part when she stole the pen from a subway drive through and decided she needed to return it. She started reversing and actually backed her car into a little pylon and almost the building...haha) Anyways the Badgerette Review was so much fun, we stayed until 11:30 just talking and reminiscing about old times!!!


Friday started the Spanish Fork, Can't Stop Dancin' Competition. This was the first time I was able to see the Solo's that the studio girls have been doing for months now. I must say they represented the studio so well. The girls ended up taking 1st and 2nd places and we even had some BIG time winners. My niece Delilah ended up winning the HUGE 6 foot trophy for the Overall High Point Award in the Mini's category and Katie Foote won the Junior overall High Point Award as well. This is the best that you can do at a competition.

I just have to take a second and go off on a tangent and be an emotional aunt... It seems like it was just yesterday when my sister Ronnett brought home and adopted Delilah. She was an overweight little girl who's parents were heavily into drugs and alcohol. Her and her little brother didn't talk much but whenever you passed a fast food restaurant they knew what it was and could say the name. Ronnett seriously saved these kids lives. They were so neglected and didn't truly have any understanding of what a loving family was. Ronnett got Delilah into Ultimate Dance and Delilah soon became the little girl that Misty always wanted for herself. Misty has been choreographing solos for her now for three years in hopes that Delilah would win that six footer. Delilah even had a dream that she was going to win that trophy as well. So to say the least when they called her name as the overall winner we were all jumping up and down screaming!!!! It was a really emotional night for me driving home Friday thinking about her standing up on the trophy pedestal. To think that if Ronnett hadn't opened up her heart and home to this little girl that this dream may have never come true. Just to think about all the happiness that she brings to all of us, how could a parent turn their backs on that? But all things do happen for a reason and I am sure glad it did because then we would not have been able to be a part of this beautiful girls life!Saturday is when all of our teams got to perform. Although it was very stressful (dances were happening in both the gym and auditorium at the same time so both Misty and I had to get these girls on the floor while having the next one lined up to go while in different places) it ended up being an awesome day for both Ultimate Dance and Rockwell. Ultimate Dance took mostly 1st and 2nd places and ended up winning Mini Overall Grand champs, Junior 2nd place overall Champs, Teen 2nd Place overall Champs, and Mini overall High Point award.(Winning a 6 foot Trophy!). AWESOME!!!!Rockwell Ended up taking 1st places in all three of their routines and even won the teen intermediate amateur 1st place overall high point trophy for their lyrical routine. It's awesome to think that most of these girls have never competed before and they are performing and keeping up with girls that have been doing this their whole life. They make me look good! I have to say that I am one lucky coach.
Lastly I just have to say that I am so thankful for the talent that I have been blessed with. Dance has truly lifted me up and brought me out of some of the lowest points in my life. Thank you Misty for being such an amazing Role Model for me and inspiring me to be the best teacher possible. Fact of the matter is that I have always strive to be just like you and you have led me to so many great things. Without you I would not have been able to be part of such an Amazing studio and so many amazing girls life's. I also would never have embarked on the coaching job at Rockwell. You are an amazing sister and role model! Sure Do Love and Appreciate You!